


Famous last words

by smkkbert



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 4x18 fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 03:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6783541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smkkbert/pseuds/smkkbert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jhutchlover22 said: Prompt: The moment between Oliver and Laurel minutes before her death.<br/>(Tumblr prompt this is inspired by)</p><p>The two chapters are two possibilities how I could see it play out. I couldn't decide for one, so I did both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A hero in the light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jhutchlover22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jhutchlover22/gifts).



> I was reluctant to write this because I have no experience with writing anything but Olicity. I did write one Delicity fic, but that was easy.  
> Writing Laurel Lance as a main character, especially in a scene like this, is so much more difficult because I really don’t want to fuel to any fight going on.  
> I like(d) Laurel, and I want to do the scene justice, but I am not completely sure I can because I don’t have that much experience with writing her character…

“You’re ready?” Felicity asked, moving her flat hands over the fabric of Oliver’s dress shirt to smooth out the invisible creases from the fabric before she pulled the lapels of his jacket back in place. She kept holding onto them while looking up at him and waiting for his answer.

“Yes, I am,” Oliver replied, nodding his head shortly.

“Do you know what you will say? Thea told me you made a big secret of your speech.”

Oliver chuckled, put his hands to Felicity’s hips and pulled her against him. “Don’t worry. I know exactly what I will say.”

“Good,” Felicity replied with a smile, straightening up onto her tiptoes and brushing her lips against Oliver’s in a chaste kiss. When their lips parted and she pulled back a little, she hastily wiped away some of the lipstick that had been left on his lips and stated, “I’ll join the others outside and wait for you to come on stage and hold your first speech as Star City’s most handsome mayor ever.”

Smiling, she moved her hands down his chest a little before taking them off him completely. Oliver watched her turning around and leaving.

After the attacks of Damian Darhk the city laid in ashes. Just like during the Undertaking people had died, and again their home had been destroyed. They were still recovering from the physical and emotional trauma the attacks had put them through, but at least Damian Darhk was defeated, and the city had come out stronger than ever. They were united after all.

And according to various media part of that had been Oliver’s doing. In the time of crisis he had taken the lead by spending hope when there had actually been no hope left. And given that Ruvé Adams had been exposed to be Damian Darhk’s wife and not the good mayor she had pretended to be for the last months, he had been asked to take her position.

And he had agreed.

So today he would officially take office and hence had to give a short speech.

And later today he would have to say goodbye to his sister and best friend. John and Thea both needed time to process what had happened to them in the last months. Thea’s bloodlust and the betrayal by Alex, John and Andy’s betrayal – they just needed time, and they both needed to rethink why they did what they usually did here and if that was worth the struggles they were put through. Almost a year ago Oliver and Felicity had taken their time away, and this year Thea and John needed it, too. Hopefully they were coming back.

When he heard a voice over the loudspeakers call for attention and saying a few words that Oliver knew would end with him being asked to the stage, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Oliver wasn’t sure if he was good with words. Given that he usually tended to just think and not talk, he actually doubted it, so usually he would be nervous about giving the speech because he hadn’t had much time to think about what to say with everything that had happened in the last few days. But actually for this one speech he hadn’t needed much time figuring out what to say because the right words had already been said.

 

 

“I’m really glad that you found Felicity, and I hope you find your way back to her, and, Ollie, I know that I am not the love of your life… but you will always be the love of mine.”

“Why? Why are you telling me this? Why now?”

“Because tonight it was just a reminder that… anything can happen, which is why I need you to promise me something.”

“Sure,” Oliver whispered, sitting down at the edge of the mattress.

Laurel took his left hand and held it in both of hers, squeezing in a gesture of something Oliver wasn’t sure what it was. For awhile she didn’t say anything, and neither did Oliver. They just looked at each other, sharing the moment of quiet without any awkwardness between them.

“You told me that the world needs a hero in the light,” she suddenly said. Her voice was low and small given the injuries she had been left with after the fight with Darhk. “And I agree. The world or at least this city needs one.”

“But you just said that you-“

“It needs you,” Laurel interrupted him. “You-“

Her words were interrupted by a cough when the talking had been too exhausting for her weak lungs. Oliver squeezed her hands in silent comfort, patiently waiting until she had her breathing back under control.

“Laurel, I tried to be that hero in the light. It led me nowhere.”

“It led you nowhere because you were forced to give up before you could really embrace that part of you,” Laurel replied. “If Darhk hadn’t kidnapped William, you would have been voted mayor today. Even after you renounced your candidacy so many people still voted for you. They believe that you can do what the last mayors failed to do. They believe that you are their best option to make this city a better place like you already did during your candidacy. The people in the city believe in you. _I_ believe in you.”

“Laurel,” Oliver whispered barely louder than a breath.

“You started all of this after you came back from the island. You made this city a better place. You inspired so many people. Think about how much more you could achieve when you fought in the light of the day and not behind a mask.”

Oliver lowered his gaze. Months ago he had decided that he wanted to fight in the light of the day. After he had come back from Ivy Town and Felicity had talked to him about staying here and how helping people gave her life a purpose, he had been so full of hope. He had thought he could achieve everything if he just tried.

But first Felicity had been shot, and then William had been taken. Two of the people that meant the most to him had gotten hurt because he had wanted to be a hero in the light. The people closest to him had paid the price for his attempt to be a hero without a mask.

“I don’t know if the world necessarily needs a Laurel Lance. I want to believe it, but…” Laurel didn’t finish the sentence. Instead she said, “What I do know, though, is that this city needs Oliver Queen.”

“I don’t know, Laurel,” Oliver said after awhile, looking at her. “I’ve been in the darkness for so long, I don’t know if can ever really turn to the light and be that person.”

“I know you can.”

“Laurel-“ Oliver said with an almost sad chuckle, shaking his head.

He had come back from the island and planned on doing everything alone, and at the end of the day he would always revert back to the person that had come back from there. He would always retreat back to that man. Wasn’t that what Felicity had told him?

“Oliver, I told you that you are the love of my life because I need you to know that I want you to be happy. Asking you do to this is not only about the city,” Laurel whispered, her voice getting weaker with every word. “It is about you, too. I can’t accept that job offer because fighting alongside you guys is what makes me feel alive. I know it only started as a way to channel my grief, but it is more than that now. Sometimes I need that mask to really feel alive. It’s… I just need it.”

Oliver nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“But I think what you need is not the fighting in the darkness. It might be part of you, but it is not what you need to be happy or to feel alive. During your time on the island and the time since you have come back here you have mostly lived in darkness, and it never gave you what you needed. You told me the only time you were happy was when you were with Felicity, so what you need is a life in the light. Being the hero in the light that you wanted me to be… I think that is what you need. That is what you need to feel alive. The Hood couldn’t give you happiness. Neither could the Arrow or God help Al-Sahim. The only part of your life that can give you happiness is Oliver Queen.”

Again Oliver nodded, unsure of what to say.

What was he supposed to say?

Being a hero in the light had been what he had tried to do these last months, but it hadn’t worked. He had failed at that. The city was under a threat worse than ever.  

“I-“

His words were interrupted when Laurel took in a loud breath, struggling for air.

“Laurel, what-“

The machines started beeping loudly. The curve of the ECG showed that her heartbeat was fastening until it suddenly stopped.

 

 

“…Oliver Queen.”

The sound of his name being spoken over the loudspeakers called his attention. With a shake of his head Oliver shook off the thoughts of watching his childhood friend dying and instead stepped out on the stage and in front of the lectern. His eyes immediately searched the crowd for Felicity, feeling the sight of her smiling at him calming his nerves.

The next person Oliver located was Quentin. He stood next to Donna, holding her hand.

“Thanks everybody for coming.”

Oliver waited until the applause had stopped and all eyes were focused on him. Most of the people here looked tired. They had spent the last hours trying to clean up the destruction Darhk’s attacks had caused in the city. Some of them were even hurt.

So Oliver took in a deep breath.

“I know many of you wondered why I decided to take the position as mayor after I dropped out of the race before. And I think that you deserve to know about this because I need your trust in me to do this. I cannot be your mayor when you don’t trust me. So I am going to tell you who convinced me to try and save this city when I thought I couldn’t.”

Oliver made a pause, wordlessly looking at Quentin for some time. He waited until his friend nodded, giving his consent for Oliver to speak, before he continued, “As many of you know, a very close friend of mine died a month ago. Laurel Lance, who has been fighting for this city not only as an Assistant District Attorney but also as the Black Canary, has been killed by Damian Darhk. But before she died she asked me for a favor. She asked me to be a hero in the light. I am standing here today because she believed in me, that most of you believe in me, that I should try and make the ones of you believe in me that didn’t already and that I should believe in myself. I am standing here today because of Laurel Lance.”


	2. Save my soul

“When are we going to take Laurel there?”

Oliver lowered his head and let it hang between his shoulders. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to shut out everything and everything around him and concentrate on only himself.

He had hoped this would never happen. He had hoped they would never find a way that seemed promising enough for one of them to think about trying it.

Several months had passed since Laurel had died, and of course they were still grieving. Actually Oliver couldn’t see a time in the future that they wouldn’t be grieving anymore, but they had moved on from it. The devastating part of their grief was over. With Darhk being dead and Laurel’s death being avenged, they didn’t have to think about it every single second of every single day anymore now. And they had grown from their loss; as individuals and as a team.

Only that now Quentin had come down in the bunker and announced what Oliver had hoped would never happen. He had found a way to bring Laurel back after all. Apparently Nyssa had found her sister Talia, who had access to a Lazarus Pit that hadn’t been destroyed and hence didn’t rob people of their souls the way the Pit in Nanda Parbat had done with Sara.

Oliver had hoped he would never have to tell Quentin what Laurel had asked him to do only minutes before she had died. He had told Felicity about his last conversation with Laurel because when they had gotten back together, he had sworn to always be honest with her, and he had told her a lot of the things he had kept for himself until then.

So he shot her a glance, finding her eyes on him already. The expression in her eyes was reassuring one, making him know that she knew exactly what he wanted to do and agreed to his decision. Still he waited for her to give him the slightest nod before he got up from his chair and stepped in front of Quentin.

“We are not going to take her there.”

“What- what do you mean? This is our chance to get Laurel back.”

“But to what price?”

“Nyssa said her sister has resources far beyond our imagination. She will find a way to make it work without Laurel having to go through what Sara or Thea had to. Of course there are risks, but the outcome will be worth it. This is our way to bring my daughter back. We could all have her back.”

“Laurel wouldn’t want to be brought back.”

“You don’t know that, Oliver. Laurel was-“

“Laurel didn’t want to be brought back, Quentin,” Oliver interrupted him, speaking the words out slowly to emphasize every single syllable. “Laurel didn’t want to be brought back.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she told me so.”

 

 

“I’m really glad that you found Felicity, and I hope you find your way back to her, and, Ollie, I know that I am not the love of your life… but you will always be the love of mine.”

“Why? Why are you telling me this? Why now?”

“Because tonight it was just a reminder that… anything can happen, which is why I need you to promise me something.”

“Sure,” Oliver whispered.

He stepped closer until he was standing right next to her bed, looking at Laurel and waiting for her to talk. But Laurel only looked at him for a long time, not speaking just like he wasn’t speaking. It wasn’t until tears sprang to her eyes that Oliver asked with a worried frown on his face, “What’s wrong?”

“I just…” she started before she took in a sniffling breath and hastily wiped away a tear that had escaped the corner of her eye and had been rolling down her pale cheek slowly. “While you took me to the hospital, before I lost consciousness, all I could think about was… what if I died? What happened to my dad if I died? And I-“

“Laurel, you didn’t die,” Oliver interrupted her gently. “I know that near-death experiences shake a person. And I know the thought of dying is frightening. I was close to dying a lot of times, and I was scared every time. It is normal and-“

“I wasn’t scared of dying.”

At her whispered voice, Oliver’s frown deepened. “What-?”

“I know it sounds arrogant,” Laurel said with a weak and tired smile and breathed in deeply, before she continued, “but I don’t mean it that way. What I mean is that the thought of dying wasn’t the most terrifying one. It was the thought of being brought back that scared me the most.”

Oliver didn’t know what to say, so he just looked at Laurel and waited for her to continue and explain what she meant.

“I don’t regret resurrecting Sara,” she started again after awhile. “I can’t regret it because I got her back after all. She might be living a crazy life away from my dad and me and travel through time, but… but she is alive. My sister is alive, and she is okay. So I can’t regret having her resurrected.”

Oliver nodded. “I know.”

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t know that it has been a mistake,” she continued. “What the resurrection put her through… I saw what it had done to Thea. I heard Nyssa begging me not to do it. But though I had found a way to channel my grief, I was still grieving. So I ignored all the warning signs and resurrected her, but she wasn’t back, and I almost had to shoot her and-“

“That is over now, Laurel. Sara is okay,” Oliver reassured her gently.

“I know,” Laurel replied, but the words ended in a cough as she was actually too weak to talk so much.

“You should rest,” Oliver suggested. “We have all the time in the world for you to tell me the rest.”

“No,” Laurel objected hastily, shaking her head. “I need to get this off my chest.”

“Okay,” Oliver whispered, putting his hand to hers in a calming gesture.

He knew that Laurel should rest. She had been through a lot these last hours. Her body needed the rest to heal, but her voice was growing weaker with every more word she spoke. Oliver also knew, though, that when you have been close to death, sometimes there were things that you needed to say before your time was running out again.

“If I die before… my time,” Laurel said, again tears springing to her eyes, “please don’t let anyone’s grief lead them to such desperate actions. Don’t let them resurrect me.”

“You are not going to die, Laurel,” Oliver assured her, squeezing her hand in a comforting gesture. “The doctor said you will be fine.”

“But if I did-“

“Laurel, the Lazarus Pit is destroyed anyway.”

“But we did get Sara back although it was destroyed. And the world is so big and full of surprises, maybe you will stumble over other possibilities, and I… I don’t want that. No matter how safe it seems, I don’t want it.”

“Laurel, I-“

“Ollie,” Laurel interrupted him, her voice barely louder than a breath but with a strength in its tone that made Oliver stop immediately. “If it wasn’t for your connection to Constantine and your help in that ritual, Sara would have never gotten her soul back. You saved my sister’s soul; I don’t know who else I would trust more to save mine.”

Oliver felt his heart clenching painfully. This felt terribly close to saying goodbye. And he had said goodbye to too many people in the last years to be comfortable with telling the one childhood friend he had left goodbye now.

“Laurel, I-“

His words were interrupted when Laurel took in a loud breath, struggling for air.

“Laurel, what-“

The machines started beeping loudly. The curve of the ECG showed that her heartbeat was fastening rapidly.

“Laurel?”

Her heartbeat fastened even more, her eyes widened in panic, looking at him intensely with an expression Oliver couldn’t think he would ever forget.

“I promise, okay?” he said hastily. “I promise nobody will resurrect you. I promise.”

And her heart suddenly stopped.

 

 

“She didn’t want it, Quentin,” Oliver repeated in a whisper, shaking his head.

“But- but-“ Quentin said, feebly dropping into the chair behind him and taking a deep breath. He looked helpless, almost as helpless as he had been in the days directly following Laurel’s death.

“Laurel didn’t want this,” Oliver repeated once more, feeling the more he said it, the clearer it got not only for her father but for himself, too. “She saw what it could possibly to do a person, and she decided that she didn’t want it. We should accept it.”

Sobbing, Quentin hid his face in his hands when he had no choice but to realize that bringing Laurel back was indeed against what she would want. Oliver stepped behind his friend and squeezed his shoulder in silent support.

They were still grieving for her. They weren’t thinking about her every single second of every day, but Laurel and her death were still in their thoughts. And in moments like these old wounds were ripped open. He didn’t see that changing anytime soon.


End file.
